Shelby Ann Davis

Role: Concept, Research, UX, UI, Branding, Interactions, Visuals

Skills: Product Design, UI/UX Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Figma

Duration: July – September 2022

Project

myTBR is a literary service that primarily matches readers to their next book. Focusing on pre-pinned novels, myTBR inspires readers to finish their “to be read” list by matching readers with their a novel from their self after answering a select few questions.

Challenges

1. Create a mainstream questionnaire platform.
2. Explore users’ pinned reads seamlessly.
3. Allow readers to focus on their pinned reads.
4. Eliminate barrier to entry on application startup.

First and foremost, I was curious as to what the main competitors were. There are many book-recommending platforms, but all seem to function on a broad scale rather than a personalized list. In order to progress, I needed answers to the following questions:

Who are our biggest competitors?

What does the product contribute?

What challenges could we face moving forward?

I looked at several potential competing companies, and although none competed directly with myTBR, they still challenged myTBR on the topic and its popularity. myTBR is presented with the opportunity to capitalize on the To Be Read list presentation to create a minimalist, understanding app.

The majority of the features between competitors were very similar, however, the main differences we noticed were:

• Cluttered Interface vs Minimalistic Interface
• Modern UI
• Focus on new recommendations vs pinned recommendations

Trenton is a librarian who has limited time to read between time with his family time, his job, and his writing. However, Trenton is always forgetting to check out books on his ever-growing To Be Read list and instead impulse reading random recommendations. He would really like to focus on the books already on his list, but he is always surrounded by recommendations, even on his literature platforms.

Alex is a university student and the time she has for her reading has been cut slim. Her friends from her hometown recommend her novels, but when she is between books, she seems to look everywhere besides her To Be Read list. She would like to finally tackle her list so she can finally talk to her friends about their favorite novels when she visits.

After creating myTBR’s wireframe, I had a general idea of how the app would function and how I could style the brand in a minimal, friendly manner.

Since I wanted to focus on the comfort and reliance myTBR offers, I chose a palette that naturally eased the viewer’s mind. By incorporating typewriter-like font, I was able to stick to the theme of literature. Also, the logo is simplistic, yet relays the message of checking off books from the users’ To Be Read list.

After several rounds of editing and correcting errors found in the low-fidelity prototype, I proudly present the high-fidelity prototype of myTBR.

As an avid reader myself, myTBR was a project I found easily relatable. From my own experience with an ever-looming TBR list, I wanted to build an app that felt inviting and inspiring. From this project, I was able to practice prototyping with Figma, which then led me to create my first stationary menu bar. Although I was not able to fully flesh out various features within myTBR, it’s not to say I won’t try to incorporate them in future projects down the line.